Module 5 - R & E | STELAR - STEM Learning and Research Center

Module 5 - Evaluation

R & E

Aligning research and evaluation

As noted in the Research Module, ITEST projects include both research and evaluation. This tab provides some ideas for how to align your research and evaluation plans and how to distinguish research from evaluation in your proposal. If you already completed the Research module, you can skip this tab, as it repeats the information.

ITEST proposals need to include a description of the research that (a) includes questions that address the ITEST Pillars; (b) includes a carefully described research plan with all the components described in the Research Module; and (c) contributes to the Intellectual Merit of the proposal. Proposals also need to include a description of the evaluation plan that answers two overarching questions: "(1) Is the project making sufficient progress toward meeting the goals and objectives? And (2) What are the intellectual merits and broader impacts of the project with respect to its intended outcomes?"

In some cases there can be confusion about differences between research and evaluation, and in actuality, different projects address this potential confusion differently. There is not a single "correct" way to resolve the confusion if it arises, but it is important to come up with a resolution for the proposal you are working on. Here are some things to consider as you prepare the research and evaluation components.

Rather than thinking about research vs. evaluation, it can be helpful to think about aligning research and evaluation.
One way to distinguish the two is: research includes activities designed to contribute to the field while evaluation includes activities designed to build understanding of the specific project. For example, a research question may examine how students develop their STEM career interests, while an evaluation question would determine whether the project met its STEM career development goals. There can be significant overlap in activities with a project that seeks to do both, so the proposal will need to make clear the distinction between the two.
Evaluation includes a “formative” or “developmental” component, which can be critical to helping project leaders and staff become aware of and address issues, making “course corrections” mid-stream. An external evaluator can be a critical friend that can help to clarify the theory of change at the beginning of a project, can identify areas of change in the middle, and can provide ongoing feedback throughout.
The research plan needs to include multiple elements that demonstrate you are prepared to carry out a carefully designed study, including descriptions of instrumentation and analysis plans.

Activity 5.03

Look back at the research and evaluation questions you have written. Briefly describe how the research questions contribute to the proposal’s Intellectual Merit, and how the evaluation questions will examine the project’s progress toward meeting its goals and objectives and will describe the intellectual merits and broader impacts of the project with respect to its intended outcomes.

In your proposal, be sure to clarify which questions are your research questions and which are your evaluation questions. These should be written as two separate sections in the proposal.